Some PIP medical clinics in Florida aren’t waiting for the governor to sign the reform bill the legislature enacted two weeks ago. They see the writing on the wall and are putting their clinics up for sale.

The for-sale signs likely have been spurred by one of the most effective provisions of the new law — a limit on the $10,000 per-patient slush fund chiropractors and attorneys have used to bilk the PIP system. Now, only $2,500 of the $10,000 benefit can be used for chiropractic care unless the patient has a specific referral from a physician. That should put a huge dent in the profits of PIP mills that over-treat or don’t treat at all. Yet, it allows for a patient who is legitimately injured and in need of chiropractic care to receive adequate treatment.

The final bill that emerged from starkly different versions offered by the Florida House and Senate seems like a good compromise. Insurers didn’t get all they wanted, such as a requirement that claimants seek treatment exclusively from hospital emergency rooms or caps on attorney fees. Consumer groups and plaintiff attorneys pushed a provision to require a 25-percent reduction in PIP premiums. But that didn’t make into the final bill either.

What did make it in the final bill — tighter clinic licensing, fraud warnings on clinic applications, ability for insurers to conduct EUOs and expanded crash reports — should help to curb fraud and put downward pressure on auto premiums. It’s also interesting that these same provisions all were included in a bill last year that was initiated by the broad-based coalition Sunshine Alliance to Erase Fraud (SAEF). But that initiative ultimately was squeezed out by a more-aggressive proposal insurers championed to cap attorney fees, which the trial bar killed in the last week of the 2011 session.

The failure in 2011 left many pessimistic about chances for this year. However, the momentum from 2011 carried over. Legislators faced more pressure to act this time around, plus the governor wisely chose to make auto reform a signature initiative. Worthwhile legislation rarely gets enacted in a single legislative session.

So while the players in the legislative arena — insurers, consumer leaders, lawyers, docs and law enforcement — all started from different positions in 2012, they basically ended up in the same place from 2011. And that’s a good path. Everyone should feel good that the legislative process worked. Well, perhaps not everyone. Legitimate clinic owners and workers who relied exclusively on PIP business have to shift to a new business model. And as for the shady clinics, hopefully they are looking for a totally new line of work.

The recent bust of 36 alleged fraud members in New York has been called the largest no-fault fraud in history by prosecutors. In recent weeks, record-breaking fraud rings have been dismantled in several key states across the country.

What is alarming is the growing size of these alleged operations. The ambulance-chasing crash ring in New York is charged with seeking $279 million. Texas doctor Jacques Roy is charged with orchestrating a $375-million operation.  In February, an assistant administrator of another hospital pled guilty to cooperating in a $116 million scheme.

These cases are of an entirely different nature from what was common immediately after the economic downturn. Namely, individual consumers driven by financial stress making bad decisions to torch a car to use insurance money as a bailout.

More of the cases we are seeing of late involve fraud as a way of life. Masterminded rings, run much like businesses, are seeking to bilk insurers and consumers as large corporate entities.

The NICB reports a 19-percent rise in questionable claims since 2009. How much money are each of these questionable claims raking in? The Coalition estimates that fraud costs $80 billion a year. If insurance fraud was a company, it would rank number 25 among the Fortune 500, above Apple, Google, Costco, and Pfizer. Either fraud is becoming more corporatized, or investigators are busting large rings that have been developing these tactics for some time now.

Regardless, insurance fraud can be a lucrative business, as these recent cases show… And it’s a business that does harm, especially to law-abiding citizens. Consumers must learn the signs of fraud to protect themselves from getting fleeced on the road and at home.

The author is communications specialist for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.